John Nolan/Times photo
Crisis preparedness expert Dave O’Connor talks to a Farmington audience of some 30 people, many of them fans of the TV series Doomsday Preppers.

FARMINGTON — An expert in calamity preparedness, Dave O’Connor, (known as Dr. Tomato in other situation) talked to an audience in Farmington Woman’s Club, last week, that comprised a combination of local gardeners and folks seeking knowledge on how to survive worst case scenarios from economic collapse to catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina. Referring to his life experience enabling him to talk extensively on the subject, O’Connor said he was a Dartmouth graduate, who had spent 10 years in law enforcement, another 10 years as a professional bounty hunter, and had experience in foreign conflict zones. He has taught high angle vertical rescue, has rock and ice climbing experience, is a wire walker and a power-lifter. He omitted to mention that he also plays the bagpipes.Noting the familiar gardening faces among the audience, he said, “Self sufficiency doesn’t equate to survival.”He also noted that people have to decide on their own level of preparedness, and then started off with the 72-hour disaster, usually caused, in this area, by blizzards or floods, causing the power to go out.“Then there are forest fires, Seabrook (nuclear plant), and we are near a military base. Here we enter into the area of risk analysis,” he said.In all cases, food, shelter, water and warmth have to be planned for.O’Connor recommends people have a jump bag put together for 72-hour emergencies in case they have to leave their homes, and this should include medications, important papers, money, and a list of items for insurance purposes. A jump kit kept in a vehicle should include water, a first aid kit, a source of light, matches and more. He passed out a sheet containing an extensive list.For longer range disasters that might occur in the future, such as a breakdown in civil order or a serious interruption to the power grid, O’Connor said people had to decide, “Do you get out of the situation or survive it at home? Make a long-range plan, but don’t dwell on it, or it will drive you nuts,” he said.“There is only a two-day supply of food in the food stores,” said O’Connor, stressing the importance of stocking up on supplies.He said that some people, with this in mind, favor setting up a community somewhere else.“They need an agricultural-based society that has to be more than one full gas tank away from a city. It takes over a year to get such a place set up, and meanwhile, what do you do for work? It is almost out of the realm of practicality,” he said.O’Connor then pointed out the difference in public attitudes between a short-lived catastrophe and one lasting longer.“Up to 72 hours, people band together,” he said, but with a longer event, people start changing,” said O’Connor, giving the chaos that ensued during the Katrina aftermath as an example.“That was the survival of the fittest and most street savvy,” he said.For extended periods of deprivation, he urged people to develop a low cost family food system, keeping in mind that around 1,500 calories per day per person are needed to sustain body weight for the average person.He suggested items like beans, rice, vitamins, olive oil and powdered milk, as well as comfort foods like chocolate. He recommended varied meals, and added the tip of stocking toilet paper.“The longer the crises lasts, the higher your skill level has got to be,” he said.When facing violence, O’Connor said that people had to decide if they wanted a weapon.“How you deal with people is more important than walking around with an assault rifle. There is always someone who has a bigger one,” he said.He recommended to the audience that they get a copy of a book like “How to fix everything,” and also to consider how they would negotiate with other survivors of a crisis, using barter items such as booze, ammo, matches and even aspirins.“The mind is the most important tool to keep you alive. You have to develop a survivor mind-set,” he said, adding The Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales to his books to read list.To counteract the natural instinct of panic in a dire situation, O’Connor recommended that people test themselves with bungee jumping or icy showers.“Bring it back. Bring it back. Bring your breathing down. You have to be able to work and focus when you are cold, tired and wet,” he said.He then went on to discuss the “hardening” of one’s home, to make it more resilient to any attempted invasion by outsiders, and he talked about the ethical dilemma that someone might face when approached by a starving neighbor for food.“I don’t care about neighbors, only my family,” said a woman from the audience, echoing the sentiment of others in the room envisaging their prepared larders being quickly depleted by generosity.“Keep your larder out of sight,” said O’Connor, suggesting that if the mother across the street asks for food, she should be shown a cupboard with just a few cans in it.“Give her a couple, and she will think you are in the same boat,” he said.O’Connor (who actually lives in a castle) said that the more fortified a home looks, the more it seems to people on the outside that you have stuff in there. “Try to look like everyone else, melt into the neighborhood and never leave your home unguarded,” he said.Getting back to firearms, O’Connor recommended people read On Killing by Dave Grossman.“I am not a fan of Stand your Ground laws, having been involved with weapons for 30 years. When you carry a weapon it puts your mind in a different place. The decision about using a weapon becomes blurred. They have the potential to do good but also a tremendous amount of harm,” he said.Asked about forming alliances, in extended dire situations, O’Connor said there were pros and cons.

“They can work well if you know the people, but there has to be shared responsibility,” he said.